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Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money - That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! (平装)
by Robert T. Kiyosaki, Sharon L. Lechter
| Category:
Personal finance, Personal wealth, Self help |
| Market price: ¥ 168.00
MSL price:
¥ 158.00
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MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
A life-changing education on personal finance. |
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AllReviews |
  1 2 Total 2 pages 17 items |
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An American reader (MSL qoute), USA
<2007-01-12 00:00>
Rich Dad, Poor Dad has been a blockbuster, so I was expecting a bit more "meat" to it than I got.
The book starts with a story of the author's father's monetary thinking and contrasts it with his friend's rich father (who becomes his financial mentor) and makes a point about how certain types of thinking can lead to financial success or failure. I enjoyed this section of the book. It read quickly while still getting the points across.
After this, Kiyosaki expounds upon his six lessons. Most of these were fairly common sensical. The main points I took from this section were: First and foremost, the power of your money comes from its ability to make you more money. He explains that most people spend on "liabilities" instead of "assets". It makes sense. I particularly found interesting his contention that a house is more of a liability than an asset.
The author stresses the fact that people must be financially well-informed and feels that this is a shortcoming that most of us would do well to address.
He also makes a great point of the fact that corporations are a godsend to people who choose to utilize them. In fact, the author is very cognizant of the effects of taxes on our wealth, and stresses the ability to avoid paying excessive taxes in our quest for wealth.
Most of the concepts the author discusses are solid, but there is little in the way of direction. After reading the book, you will not feel compelled to move in any certain direction to amass your fortune. It's not that kind of a "jump-start" book.
The most annoying thing about the book was the author's constant mention of the game he created called "CASHFLOW". Enough already... |
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Lupa (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-12 00:00>
First things first – Do Not center your entire financial plan around this book. The financial planning advice is incredibly vague, and not always realistic, especially if you know nothing about real estate.
However, I found this book to be a valuable read as far as helping to change my attitude about money.
The basic summary of Kiyosaki's attitude towards money is that if your only solution to the problem of not having enough money is to get a higher- paying job - you're not trying hard enough.
He outlines a number of issues that were eye-openers for me, most importantly the fact that a lot of people, no matter how much money they have, can't manage it well. One example, which he didn't bring up but which came to mind, is M.C. Hammer. In the early 1990s, this guy was on top of the world as far as money goes. In less than a decade he was flat broke, and today he gets by on selling ringtones.
Another point the author brought up was the idea of making your money work for you. While some people know the basics of investing and utilize them, many either don't know, or choose not to act on their knowledge. Also, people tend to play it safe, without really doing too much research beyond stable mutual funds.
The biggest lesson I learned, though, was about how emotions - fear in particular - affect how many people handle money, me included. We have the fear of not having enough money conditioned into us by our society. That's why we're told to go to school, so you can get a good job - working for someone else. We're afriad to take chances, and we're also afraid to do anything that doesn't get the bills paid first. Granted, I'm not an advocate of putting all your eggs into a shaky basket. But that's where educating yourself on financial issues and opportunities comes in.
Again, don't take this book as a whole. While Kiyosaki advocates taking risks in investing, he doesn't do that much risk assessment, nor does he have a realistic viewpoint of the average person's situation. He's had a lifetime of learning money management, whereas the average reader has very little, if any. Taking someone else's advice without being educated can be disastrous.
Use this book as motivation adn inspiration - but make sure you do a lot of research, too. |
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An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-12 00:00>
If you were ever interested in why the rich get richer and the poor and middle class struggle; see chapter 3, lesson 2. It is two years of college accounting in a few pages of easy to understand language and diagrams. It challenges the reader to consider what is actually an asset and a liability. This is what separates the classes. The major points of this book are presented in diagrams and this was critical to us, because, like most people, much of our family can't make sense of numbers and time. Just like the author, we learned from our educated parents what to NOT do financially, because what we learned was what worked in the 1950's and 1960's. It doesn't work now and we needed to relearn, beginning with the basics found in this book. |
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David Wright (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-12 00:00>
I first read this book about 5 years ago, and have since re-read it several times, in addition to reading several of his other books. Sure, Kiyosaki does have his share of detractors, as do most successful people, but his core message is solid. Today's educational system does teach you more about how to be a good employee than how to take charge of your finances. Since the schools don't teach that, you need to learn it on your own and Kiyosaki does a good job of simplifying the complex topic of managing finances.
One of the most common things that Kiyosaki and this book are criticized about is that the content is too general. This book is supposed to be general - on page 19 of the hardcover, he even clearly states: "This book is about those...lessons, put as simply as possible....The lessons are not meant to be answers but guideposts." Even if he were to try to be extremely specific, the sheer magnitude of complexity in all the different approaches towards managing finances that exist would be far beyond the scope of one book.
I give Kiyosaki and Rich Dad, Poor Dad credit with helping me develop the mindset I have today. I am now also an author and real estate investor, and am taking charge of my financial decisions. My recommendation is to read the book, and look into what he's trying to teach you. If you don't like it, read something that will help you. Just do something better than hoping that social security will take care of you. |
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Jim Charnock (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-12 00:00>
Rich Dad, Poor Dad seems contradictory in more than one way: economically and philosophically. Probably, Kiyosaki's most inviting, yet deceptive, chapters is Eight, "Overcoming obstacles." Here, he is at his most fervent; one can feel he believes what he is writing is true. But it is not necessarily true about life itself.
Unfortunately, he confuses happiness with the gathering of money - what he calls "having money work for you" - while you engage in other pleasures of life, even if they are finanacial, also.
He assumes people don't like to work to make a living. There are farmers of all sorts that love their work, artists who thrill at their creations, designers, crafts people - and the list goes on - even though they may or may not be "middle class," which he grudgingly "respects." There are people who are satisfied to simply have their needs met (including health insurance, a vacation) and no more.
In his schemes, he wins, but the other guy or business loses - and in his twisted logic he thinks he has done them a favor.
Acquiring money is a "game" he says, which can be played with some common sense - "common sense" if you have educated yourself in the field of real estate, finance, his and others' tapes and books and seminars - and aligned yourself with those who already have the my-goal-in-life-is-to-get -rich philosophy.
There is a slickness to his humble presentation; I just can't pin it down. What is amazing about his book (and subsequent ones, I'm told) is that he craftily gives you just enough to want to know more so you will buy follow-up tapes, books, videos and games. Yet, he sounds so altruistic.
Forgive me (no, don't), but I don't really believe there was a rich and poor "dad," but that this was his platform on which to organize his book/s. No way is he going to remember from early childhood what both his "dads" said to the point of quoting lengthy conversations. (This point has been made by others, too.)
Through most of the book he advocates spending money for both education and investments (especially real estate), but on page 195 he states, "The idea that it takes money to make money is the thinking of financially unsophisticated people." I think I understand the contexts of the former and the latter and this seems a contradiction. In his opinion, the sophisticated will always Take Advantage (my emphasis)of the lesser sophisticated - this is his mind set. I don't happen to share this approach to life. I am a self-made man of comfortable means - rich by no means, and don't have a burning desire to be.
Kiyosake (with Sharon Lechter, C.P.A.) is fanning the fires of greed, which he considers a positive and necessary element in becoming rich. I say let him live his satisfactory life and I'll live mine. I don't "aspire to great wealth" (page 105). There are so many other things to enjoy besides acquiring "excessive" money. By his definition I am (almost) one of the losers in life - and that is the point: we all have to define our attitudes about life - I have chosen mine, he his.
(A negative review. MSL remarks.)
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An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-12 00:00>
I recommend reading this book only if you have not read any of Robert Kiyosaki's other books. This is the first book in the Rich Dad series and I cannot say how happy i am that i picked it up at the library and read it. This book brought to my attention, ideas and possibilities that I never would have thought of before. That is why my title is "Great for opening the eyes of those who's eyes are closed" Because before I read this book my eyes were closed. An important issue that I never thought much about was brought to my attention when i read this book. If you read this book, your eyes will open. The ideas presented in the book are simple and easy to remember. After reading this book i have read 5 more of kiyosaki's books and although they were good many of them were just repeating the same points made in this first book. The book is very motivational. I would say that after you read this book there is no reason to read many more of his books. I felt somewhat like i had been enlightened after reading this book. It just gives you that little push you need to stop dreaming and start doing. Its great! |
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Jermaine Raven (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-12 00:00>
1) I got Rich Dad, Poor Dad about 5 years ago, and I earnestly tried to put Kiyosaki's ideas into practice. I have yet to make a penny directly out of it. I re-read the book quite a few times over the years, just in case I had misunderstood any of it, but I still have been completely unable to make his principles work. Kiyosaki's writing does stir up strong emotional responses, yet I have never been able to make any of his money making schemes work in real life. His principles fail because, in reality, vast amounts of start up capital and the ability to predict the future would be required for his methods to produce the consistently high yields he claims. He says "don't work for money, make money work for you", but I have found that I have always had to put in some effort somewhere along the line, to get my money. Maybe there's just something wrong with me, but I have so far been unable to get something for nothing.
If not for the fact that I also read other books and pursued other plans over the years, I'm sure Kiyosaki's advice alone would have bankrupted me, as it has done to at least one person I know.
2) In favour of the book, I do think that he explains the concept of "cash flow" better than anybody else, as he uses the few simple diagrams to good effect, and he keeps things very simple. This however, can be compared to the way certain trashy daily newspapers sell far more copies than other newspapers, because they keep their stories simple and sensational.
3) The inaccuracies in the book outweigh any good points the book may have. For example, most people now know that Martha Stewart went to prison for insider trading, and for the author to blatantly recommend a form of it, is absurd. Anyone who has read that part of it, and then goes on to positively recommend the book to other people ought to be ashamed of themselves. The sales of this book only point to how desperate people are, to become rich.
I have met many Kiyosaki devotees who have a positive outlook, but they have a tendency to hide, or lie about their current financial status in order to keep their mis-guided dreams going and to make themselves look like some kind of big-shot. Some of these people later went on to have their house re-possessed, as they had left their job to start a business which they thought would be easy to do without much effort . "I don't work for money, money works for me", they would say, parrot fashion. Kiyosaki might say these are all learning experiences, but these devotees have families with children, and real responsibilities toward them.
4) I find it amazing that millions of people have purchased this book (including me) yet only one person (John T Reed) has even bothered to do a proper investigation into the author's background. Why aren't all the millions of people who purchased this book, going out there, and doing their own research into Kiyosaki's business history? Kiyosaki is now one of the best selling self-help authors of all time, and considering that he is dispensing financial advice, he surely deserves far more scrutiny from the investigative media than he has so far been getting. For all those people who are positively recommending this book, please go out and do an investigation into Kiyosaki, then tell us all about it.
Kiyosaki's cash cow continues to milk the innocent public dry. He has a board game costing many hundreds of bucks. I personally know of 3 people who have spent money on the game, and now regret the purchase. The game has a huge price mark up, yet is nothing special, just paper and cardboard. I have sat down to play it a few times with different groups, and it is more boring and time consuming than monopoly. Robert Kiyosaki has around 20 books out now, and shockingly, even his wife Kim Kiyosaki has gotten in on the act with a newly released book called Rich Woman (which I will not be buying).
5) I have now read hundreds of books about getting rich, attended a few seminars, and I continue to seek out new information. The best book I have ever read on making money is The Richest Man in Babylon (I love you, George Clason), which has made me many thousands, simply by saving money working at my normal, boring job, and quietly amassing a small fortune. Other books I found useful with principles that actually work in real life, are The Millionaire Next Door and The Millionaire Mind. I consider myself financially comfortable right now (mortgage paid off, around 100k in the bank), and to reach my own financial goals will take me about ten years. I have yet to find a get rich quick scheme and I consider Rich Dad, Poor Dad a bad investment, as I lost money by buying it. Having said that, I'm glad I purchased it and tested it in real life, as I had to know the truth for myself. I do not recommend that anyone buys Rich Dad, Poor Dad, as it really is just a nice fantasy tale, and nothing more. Trust me on this; I spent 5 years on it.
(A negative review. MSL remarks.)
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1 2 Total 2 pages 17 items |
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